Dress-ups

It's been waaaay too hot to play outside, so this week the kids played costumes all week long.  I sure enjoyed some of their creations and thought I'd share.

Only in this house will you see a unicorn playing Scrabble!

A "snow colder" (anyone who has known Lydia long enough will know what that is).

A Cheetah Guard who guards all the princesses.

And typical in the life of Caleb with 4 older sisters...
First "Mrs. Bloomingsdale":

My particular favorite, "Mrs. Bloomingsdale Having a Bad Laundry Day" (Anna's creation).  Not sure what Caleb thinks of this.  I think he's trying to smile in these pictures.

 

Another one that cracked us up.  This is "Bella Dancerella":

Blake and I totally lost it and Caleb didn't like all the laughter:

So he threw the wig on the ground in protest.

And said, "I'm not Bella Dancerella!"

Anna convinced him to wear it anyway.  He told us (amid more tear-producing laughter) that

"It's NOT funny!"

NOT amused (although the rest of us were!)

OUCH!

So this is what happens if you try to act like you're 20 when you're 40.  Blake took half the kids and went boating over the July 4th weekend.  He pulled a hamstring while water skiing.  Can you believe this bruise???  This is weeks later.  It has since moved all the way down his calf.  Poor guy!

Caleb funnies

I love this age!  2 year olds say the funniest things.  Here are a few from Caleb:

*Caleb: "Mom, I'm sick.  My froat hurts. Can we go to McDonald's to feel me better?"

*Nathan was doing a trick with Caleb during dinner.  You know the one where you pretend to pull things out of their ear?  Nathan pretended the he could get grapes out of Caleb's ear.  Caleb loved it.  He kept saying, "Get another grape out of my ear."  When the grapes were gone,  Nathan told Caleb he couldn't get any more grapes out of his ear.  Caleb said, "They're not gone!  Check in my other ear!"  This was last week and just today Caleb came over to me to tell me he had a grape in his ear.  I don't know if that was because he wanted grapes or his ear hurts.

*Caleb is allergic to peanuts (along with a bazillion other things).   He's very aware of things that contain nuts.  He always asks, "Can I have that, does it have nuts?"  He's very accommodating if you tell him that it has nuts.  He just says, "Oh, ok."  The funny part is that lately if he doesn't want to eat something, he'll tell me, "I can't eat that, it has nuts."

And for fun, "The many faces of Caleb":

Lydia's Baptism

Lydia got baptized and is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 We're so proud of you Lydia!

4th of July

We went to see Cars 2 in the morning.  Caleb has been looking forward to it for months.  Ever since he saw the first preview for it he keeps saying, "Cars 2 is coming out to the movie feaders soon and we're gonna take our whole family!"  I LOVE how he says "movie feaders".  And he always asks to watch "The new Cars predio (that's how he says preview)."  So he was excited.  But I have to admit that I was just as excited as he was.  I love the first movie and I was really excited to see Caleb's reaction.  He didn't move during the entire movie. 

Here they are before the movie.  Yes, it's a holiday picture by the fire place.  I know that's the only place in my house that you ever see.  It just has the best (well better) lighting than anywhere in the house. They all chose to wear red, white and blue clothes.  I didn't do 4th of July shirts this year and they all asked about them.  Which is funny because usually some of them complain.  Weird.  Katie doesn't own any red shorts so hence the orange.  Oh well.

We had a neighborhood BBQ and did fireworks in our circle and then had s'mores in the neighbor's fire pit.  Everyone had a great time!

They had their own parade.

Caleb trying to figure out a pinwheel.

Sparklers.  (Courtesy of the neighbors, NOT me!)  I was opposed to them, Blake said it was ok.  Elizabeth got burned on her foot.  (Hmmm...) But she's ok, so I guess they were ok.  They still scare me though.  Notice Elizabeth's hair - it was SO HUMID!!  Did I mention I hate humidity?

Lydia, casting a spell like Harry Potter.

Katie was scared and dropped hers.  (And she's covered in frosting from cupcakes, again thanks to the neighbors.  Lovely.)

So she came up with a better plan: She let Blake hold it and she moved his arm!

 My camera is dying.  I SO wish these pictures weren't blurry because they tell a great story.  Michael bugging Anna and Anna getting mad and squawking about it (story of my life with those two).  You should have seen his guilty face when I told Michael I caught it on film.  

The kids made an obstacle course with these cones, but Lydia had her own idea of what to use them for. Lydia does her own thing, that's for sure!

 Nathan made an appearance.  He came for food and then went back in the house to play on the computer.  He did come out for a bit for fireworks and helped a lot keeping Caleb from getting burned.

More humidity at work.

Katie didn't like the loud ones.  She never has.

There was a monster truck firework that Caleb just HAD to have.
He hovered over it while it was cooling off.


"Hmmm, how does this work?  And look at those WHEELS!"

 We didn't get in the house till almost midnight and they HAD to have a bath (as you can see).  They were exhausted the next day.  Proof:  This was the morning of July 5th.